Modern hypnosis has been used for hundreds of years to build self-confidence, change
habits, lose weight with weight loss programs, stop smoking, improve memory, end behavior
problems in children and eliminate anxiety, fear and phobias.

The question is, WHAT IS HYPNOSIS? Hypnosis is a state of mind characterized by relaxed
brain waves and a state of hyper-suggestibility. Hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions have
played a major role in healing for thousands of years. According to the World Health
Organization, 90% of the general population can be hypnotized. Hypnosis is a perfectly
normal state that just about everyone has experienced. What we call “highway hypnosis” is a
natural hypnotic state. You drive somewhere and don’t remember driving or even remember
seeing the usual landmarks. You are on automatic pilot. The natural hypnotic state also exists
when you become so involved in a book, TV show or some other activity that everything else
is blocked out. Someone can talk to you and you don’t even see or hear them. Whenever you
concentrate that strongly, you automatically slip into the natural hypnotic state.

The hypnotic state, by itself, is only useful for the relaxation it produces. The real importance
of hypnosis to the healing and emotional change process is that while you are in the hypnotic
state, your mind is open and receptive to suggestions. Positive and healing suggestions are
able to sink deeply into your mind much more quickly and strongly than when you are in a
normal, awake state of mind. I say positive suggestions because all research has
demonstrated that while in the hypnotic state, you cannot be made to do anything against
your moral values.

All of our habitual and behavior controlling thoughts reside in what is called our subconscious
mind. It’s called that because it is deeper than our conscious mind. It’s below our level of
consciousness. We are unaware of the thoughts and feelings that reside there. Did you ever
forget you had a dental appointment or some other appointment that you really didn’t want to
keep? Your subconscious mind is where that thought or memory that you had to go to the
dentist at 2 PM went when you forgot you had the appointment. Once it was too late to go,
your conscious mind relaxed and the memory came back.

Imagine that there is a trap door between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind.
Normally, the trap door is closed until your brain waves slow down to a relaxed, alpha brain
wave level. This happens when you are asleep. The door opens for short periods of time and
ideas, images and thoughts come out of your subconscious mind. We call what comes out in
your sleep, “dreams”. When you are in a state of hypnosis, the door also opens so helpful
suggestions can be directed into your subconscious mind or forgotten memories can be
retrieved.

The hypnotic induction that hypnotists use is simply a way to focus your attention and
concentration so you will go into that natural, normal hypnotic state. Once in the state of
hypnosis, the trap door opens and suggestions to help you can be given. The list of ways
hypnosis has been used to help children, adolescents and adults is practically endless but
does include: weight loss, stopping smoking, building self-confidence and self-esteem,
improving academic performance at every age level, improving test taking ability from children
through high school, college, medical and law school as well as the National Teacher
Certification Exam, pain management, eliminating anxiety, fear and phobias, stress
management, insomnia and other sleep problems and helping to heal physical problems.

2. To really work well, suggestions must be reinforced by repetition. Most of the habits,
feelings and emotions we want to change are deeply implanted in our subconscious mind and
ero-entertainer will not just “go away” with one set of suggestions. Most of the time, the hypnotic suggestions
need to be repeated on a regular basis until you notice a change. This is one reason that
most specialists in hypnosis give clients cassette tapes of their sessions so they can listen to
them every day. It’s also the reason why hypnosis tapes you buy can work so well. You get to
listen to them every day or often enough that the suggestions become permanently a part of
you. There is no way to predict how long it will take to see change. It will depend partly on
your motivation and commitment.

The Three Keys to the successful use of hypnosis for self improvement and personal growth
are self motivation, repetition and believable suggestions.

1. The motivation to change must come from within you. If you are trying to change
because someone else wants you to “lose weight” or “stop smoking”, the chances are
greately reduced that the hypnosis will work. For example, I’ve worked with many
people for weight loss or to quit smoking who came to me because their physician or
spouse wanted them to change. These people do not respond as well to the hypnosis
as those who really want to change. Those who came because they wanted to quit
smoking or lose weight responded quickly and easily. Before you start to use hypnosis
for your self improvement, you should get it clear in your own mind why you want to
change. This clear intention to change will help the hypnotic suggestions to take hold
and manifest themselves in your everyday life.

2. The third key to the successful use of hypnosis for personal change is believable
suggestions. If you are to accept a suggestion, your mind must first accept it as a real
possibility. Telling a chocoholic that chocolate will be disgusting to them and will make
them sick is too big a stretch for the imagination. If a suggestion like this even took
hold, it would only last a short time because it would be so unbelievable to a real
chocolate lover. In cases like this, one of the successful weight loss suggestions I use
is that the next time the individual eats chocolate, it will not taste quite as good as the
time before. This is far more acceptable and believable to most people. Then, with
enough repetition over a period of time, chocolate loses much of it’s positive taste and
control over that person.

One final note is that HYPNOSIS IS NOT DANGEROUS. There are almost no risks when
used by trained professionals. You cannot be made to do anything that is against your moral
values. An amateur or stage hypnotist might give you suggestions that might embarrass you,
might not work or that might make you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious at the time. To
avoid this, stick with professionally trained hypnosis specialists. The one risk I know about
involves falling asleep. If you are tired or if you become too relaxed, you may move from the
state of hypnosis to the normal sleep state. This is fine if you were going to go to sleep right
after the trance but if you have other plans after listening to a hypnosis tape, you may want to
set an alarm clock just in case you fall asleep. I’ve even had students fall asleep because
they became too relaxed. In relation to this, never listen to a hypnosis tape while driving. It is
very dangerous for you and everyone else on the road. Don’t even listen to it if you are a
passanger as the relaxation suggestions could make the driver fall asleep.

Over the years, self improvement and personal growth using hypnosis has helped millions of
people change their lives permanently because it is a safe and powerful tool for changing
your thoughts, feelings and habits.

Many people are wondering what they can do at home to engage in self hypnosis. What self hypnosis technique, in other words, can they use to break a certain habit or to get into a positive habit of exercising or eating less, whatever it may be, they want to be able to hypnotize themselves and they want to know how to do it. The best self hypnosis technique you can try at home is to just close your eyes and control your breathing. By controlling your breathing, you are essentially slowing down your entire body, even your mind, allowing you to further relax, to attain a relaxed state, so that you can convey whatever message to yourself that you wish to convey.

To try this self hypnosis technique, simply sit or lie down on a comfortable chair or couch and close your eyes. Then, while breathing steadily, try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Completely relax your body, visualize each muscle relaxing if you have to, and consciously relax your body from your toes to the top of your head. When you are completely relaxed, try to slow your breathing down even more, as low as you can get it. When you feel completely relaxed, that’s when you are in a prime hypnotized state and it’s at this time that the actual hypnosis method is used.

Other Self Hypnosis Techniques

There are, of course, many more self hypnosis techniques. The trick is finding the one that works best for you. Ask your local hypnotist what techniques you can use at home. It sure beats paying for that office visit. Or, search the internet to find if there are any self hypnosis techniques that other people use. You never know, the methods they use may just work for you.

However you decided to engage in self hypnosis, just make sure that you don’t have any expectations that are too high. Self hypnosis can help a lot of people with bad habits or to just help them relax but it shouldn’t take the place of seeing a professional if your case is a serious one. Contact a hypnotist in your area today and find out what you can do at home to get the benefits of hypnosis all by yourself. Hypnosis is a powerful tool and, if used correctly, can do wonders for breaking habits such as smoking and losing weight.

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But once the initial decision has been made to undertake therapy there are numerous issues to consider – practical and otherwise. What about, for example, location? Despite assured complete confidentiality people may prefer to see a hypnotherapist that is perhaps outside their local area, but still in surroundings they are comfortable in.

Money, of course, is a paramount issue. Hpynotherapists may offer reduced rates for students, and the unemployed or those seeking benefits, but which ones? No one wants to end up bartering with a hypnotherapist over the price of their mental well being.

And what guarantees that the hypnotherapist is the real deal? There are no laws in the UK that govern hypnotherapy, so what’s to stop anyone setting up shop to listen to people’s problems? There are qualifications and professional bodies, but these can often be confusing and over-whelming.

This is where Hypnotherapy Directory (www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk ) comes in. It was set up to provide a simple, easy, and most importantly un-daunting way of connecting people that need help with the people that provide it. A comprehensive searching tool, the site allows postcode, town and country searches of the whole of the UK, and produces a list of hypnotherapists registered in this area. Each hypnotherapist has a profile, listing a bit about themselves, their approaches, what areas they deal with, and all their training, qualification and experience and fees.

The site shows which hypnotherapists are registered/accredited with a professional body, and full profiles are only displayed after insurance and qualification documents are checked or membership with a professional body has been verified.

The site has also become a huge information bank – there are articles written by hypnotherapists, as well as comprehensive information on all kinds of distress – from depression to eating disorders to phobias, to help people identify their problems and become informed, not scared.

So don’t suffer in silence. Help is available, and most importantly it’s available in a simple, easy to find way.

Steps

1. Go to a comfortable, private place and sit in any comfortable chair or couch. Although some people prefer to lie down, you are more susceptible to sleep than when sitting up. Whether you sit or lie, ensure you do not cross your legs or any part of your body. You may be in this position for a while and this could end up being uncomfortable.
2. Make sure you are not going to be disturbed for at least half an hour.
3. Close your eyes and work to rid your mind of any feelings of fear, stress, or anxiety. When you begin, you might find it difficult not to think. You may find that thoughts keep intruding. When this happens, don’t try to force the thoughts out. Observe them impartially, and then let them slip away.
4. Recognize the tension in your body. Beginning with your toes, imagine the tension slowly falling away from your body and vanishing. Imagine it freeing each body part one at a time starting with your toes and working its way up your body. Visualize each part of your body becoming lighter and lighter as the tension is removed. relax your toes, then your feet. Continue with your calves, thighs, hips, stomach and so on, until you’ve relaxed each portion, including your face and head. Using imagery techniques of something you find comforting or soothing, such as water (feel the water rushing over your feet and ankles, cleansing them of tension) can be effective as well.
5. Take slow, deep breaths. When you exhale, see the tension and negativity leaving in a dark cloud. As you inhale, see the air returning as a bright force filled with life and energy.
6. Appreciate the fact that you are now extremely relaxed. Imagine you are at the top of a flight of 10 stairs which at the fifth step start to submerge into water. Picture every detail of this scene from the top to the bottom. Tell yourself that you are going to descend the stairs, counting each step down, starting at 10. Picture each number in your mind. Imagine that each number you count is further down and one step closer to the bottom. After each number, you will feel yourself drifting further and further into deep relaxation. As you take each step, imagine the feel of the step under your feet. Once you are at the fifth step imagine and truly feel the refreshing coolness of the water and tell yourself that you are stepping into an oasis of purity and cleanliness. As you begin to descend the last five steps, start to feel the water getting higher and higher up your body. You should now start to feel somewhat numb and your heart will start to race a bit, but notice it and let any qualms about the situation just drift away into the water.
7. At this point at the bottom of the water you shouldn’t really feel anything just a floating sensation you may even feel like you’re spinning. Once you have achieved this state you should proceed to address your problems and decide upon what it is you want from where you are. [Note: if you do not feel as stated above, try again, slower with a will to grasp what is happening]. Now start to narrate what you are doing, speak in the present and future tense quietly to yourself, or as if you are reading it from a page. Start to picture three boxes under the water that you have to swim to get to. Once you have found the boxes open them slowly one at a time and narrate to yourself what is happening when you open the box. For example ‘As i open the box i feel a radiant light engulf me, i feel it becoming a part of me, this light is my new found confidence that i can not ever lose as it is now apart of me’ and then proceed on to the next box. You should avoid using statements with negative connotation such as “I don’t want to be tired and irritable.” Instead, say, “I am becoming calm and relaxed.” Examples of positive statements “I am strong and slender,” “I am successful and positive,” and, if you have pain, “My back is beginning to feel wonderful.” (see warning on PAIN)
8. Repeat your statement(s) to yourself as many times as you wish. 2 or 3 times should be enough
9. Once you are satisfied with what you have done and embraced swim back to the stairs and feel with each step you take the water becoming lower and lower until you have once again reached that fifth step. Once you are out of the water and are on the sixth step you may start to feel heavy or as if there is a weight on your chest. Merely wait on the step until this passes, constantly repeating your aforementioned statements. Once it passes continue up the stairs visualizing each step by its number, feeling the steps under neath you, will yourself to carry on up the stairs.
10. Once you have ascended, give yourself a few moments before opening your eyes (you may want to visualise yourself opening a door to the outside world, do this slowly and imagine the light that pours in through the door way, this should make your eyes open)(also it sometimes help telling yourself that when you open your eyes you will be smiling, if you are indeed smiling when you open your eyes you will have some sort of proof that it has worked) and take your time getting up. Then out loud tell yourself “Wide awake, Wide awake” or something maybe that your mother used to say when she woke you up in the morning as a child. This will put your mind back in the conscious state.You will be totaly relaxed and a feel refreshed.

Tips

• Have an idea of how you will present your suggestions to yourself before you lie down and are relaxed, otherwise it may interrupt your hypnotic state.
• Writing out your suggestions before induction can be very effective, as a visual list of what you choose to work on can sometimes be more easily remembered than even carefully assembled thoughts.
• Try different techniques to see what works best for you.
• Another way to relax your muscles is to physically tense and hold for ten seconds before releasing; you should feel as well as imagine the tension leaving.
• Some find that imagining yourself in a peaceful natural setting will relax your mind sufficiently before counting down. For instance, you may imagine yourself wandering through a forest, smelling the trees and hearing the wind. Alternatively, you could imagine yourself walking along the ocean shore and feel the grit of the sand beneath your feet, the cool water washing against your ankles and sounds of the surf.
• If you can’t sleep, after you count down from ten (or go down your staircase), allow your mind to remain in this pleasantly relaxed state and keep your eyes closed while you are lying down and you will sleep much easier.
• You can provide yourself with an extra measure of motivation in self-hypnosis by using the Best Me Technque to pre-experience the rewards of a long-term goal, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for “will power.”
• For those of you who like to meditate but can’t sit still long enough, just use this as a form of meditation but insert a period of time in between counting down from ten and counting back up to ten.
• It is impossible to gauge your own depth of hypnosis. Hypnosis is naturally occurring and easy to achieve. Trust that you have reached a state of hypnosis; you probably have!
• If you are certain you cannot hypnotize yourself, you may wish to Use Sound for Therapy. Several sound programs that you can download can assist in altering brain state.
• It often helps to go to a professional, licensed hypnotherapist for a session first, to see what it feels like. I find that a common trait of a trance is a deeply relaxed feeling, coupled with a tingling all over my body (predominantly in my hands and feet).
• If you are struggling try visiting a hypnotherapist or buying a recording in order to experience hypnosis. When you have experienced it once or twice you will better know the state of mind you are aiming to achieve.
• “The Idiot’s Guide to Hypnosis” by Dr. Roberta Thames is a great book and has a wonderful section on safe self-Hypnosis.
• A previous hypnotic experience either by a hypnotherapist, or a recording could help you know what state you are trying to achieve.
• A great way to aid relaxing is to raise your eyes as much as you can inside your head and hold it for as long as you can. This has been proven to help slow the mind down and is used by many hypnotists today.

Warnings

• Self hypnosis may not be sufficient to address all issues. If you do not get the results you desire, it does not mean you weren’t in hypnosis. It just might mean you need some extra help.
• Be careful when rising if you’ve been lying down. Getting up too quickly could cause your blood pressure to plummet, and you could easily become dizzy or pass out. (This has nothing to do with hypnosis, it is orthostatic hypotension.)
• As always, if you have a condition that requires medical attention, speak with your doctor or therapist before starting anything new. Self-hypnosis is not an alternative to your doctor’s advice.
• If you find that this therapy has helped you enough where you feel you no longer need medication, do not stop taking your medication without speaking to your doctor.
• DO NOT try to uncover old memories using self-hypnosis. This is better left to a professional, as it can very easily cause further problems.
• DO NOT use commands that remove pain, or if you do, add a disclaimer at the end, such as: “My back feels wonderful and all the pain will be temporarily gone until the condition is healed or the condition worsens.” If you have pain somewhere, IT’S FOR A REASON and if you take the pain away, you may end up hurting yourself further or causing permanent damage without even knowing it!
• Self-Hypnotism is 80% just relaxation, but not actual sleep (where in the body pretty much shuts down.) Because of this it is recommended that you relieve yourself before hand, as you don’t want to be interrupted by the call of nature, or worse!
• Make sure you are fully conscious before going on to do things. As a general procedure i would recommend pinching yourself, if you do not feel any pain or if the pain is only small then sit down for ten to fifteen minutes, watch TV and have a drink of water. Doing this will bring your body right back into a fully alert and awake state.

Things You’ll Need

• A comfortable place to sit or lie down. Subdued lighting and the correct room temperature.
• A quiet environment where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour.
• The ability to count to ten backwards and forwards.
• A willingness to follow your own instructions.

Related wikiHows

• How to Hypnotize Yourself Using the Best Me Technique
• How to Create a Self Hypnosis Recording
• How to Meditate
• How to Hypnotize Someone
• How to Find a Hypnotherapist
• How to Do Nothing
• How to Become a Taoist
• How to Use Sound for Therapy
• How to Improve Your Memory With Hypnosis

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Perform Self Hypnosis. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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You’re getting sleepy. Hypnotherapy can help with a range of ills

Matthew Beebe discovered the strength of his unconscious mind when he tried hypnotherapy for his lifelong fear of needles. As an employee at a dentist’s office, the fear made his work difficult.

He said when he walked into his first session, he had no idea what to expect, and wasn’t sure if hypnotherapy was right for him. “I tend to have a very inquisitive, active mind,” said Beebe, 26, of Florence. “When I close my eyes, my mind just keeps racing. But in that environment, it really helps you just kind of focus in, and so it was extremely relaxing and a lot easier than I thought [it would be].”

After four sessions, Beebe said he noticed a big change in his fear level. He is now able to sit calmly through dental and blood work. “That’s not something I would expect of myself,” he said. “[The fear] doesn’t consume me like it used to.”

Let’s Trance: Take a different approach to self-improvement with hypnotherapy

This article talks about the placibo effect and how hypnosis ties in with this.

The Benefits of Hypnosis in Treating Asthma

From the pages of Natural News, this article investigates the usage of self hypnosis as a way to help treat Asthma. The findings were quite interesting:-

“Ewer and Stewart (1986) conducted a study involving 39 adults diagnosed with asthma experiencing mild to moderate symptoms. The study aimed to look at the effect hypnotherapy has on treating people with asthma. Seventeen of the participants were part of the control group and did not receive any form of treatment. The remaining 22 participants were then tested on susceptibility toward hypnosis. Twelve were highly susceptible to hypnosis and the remaining 10 had a low level of susceptibility. The 22 patients in the experimental group received hypnotherapy session for 6 weeks.

Results were highly significant involving the 12 participants who were highly susceptible to hypnosis. They showed a 74.9% improvement in bronchial hyper-responsiveness. These patients also reported 41% improvement of asthma-related symptoms. In addition, their peak expiratory flow rates improved by 5.5% and usage of bronchodilators decreased by 26.2%. The control group and those who showed low susceptibility did not report any improvement. This study shows that people with asthma who are highly susceptible to hypnotherapy are likely to see significant benefits from hypnosis.”

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Hypnosis is being touted as the cure for every modern ill, from obesity to sexual frustration and even infertility
Anita Chaudhuri

There were shrieks of disbelief when Lily Allen revealed that her dramatically slimmed-down figure was not the result of the latest Hollywood diet or a hot new personal trainer, but of a far more unlikely regime: hypnotherapy. That a woman could magically drop two dress sizes as a result of lying on someone’s couch sounds, frankly, unbelievable. Yet there is a body of scientific evidence to back up the effectiveness of hypnosis for weight loss and a range of other issues, from anxiety and sleep disorders to infertility and compulsive shopping.

Let’s face it, hypnosis does not exactly have the best reputation, what with the ritual humiliations employed by stage hypnotists. “The stage scenario has given the process a bad name,” concedes Georgia Foster, a hypnotherapist who has treated a string of high-profile clients. “People think it’s all about mind control, but nobody can really control someone else’s mind. It will only absorb what it knows is appropriate. Hypnotherapy is like Google. It puts helpful information into the subconscious mind so the brain can find it next time it’s doing a search.”

According to Foster, we naturally fall into a hypnotic state every seven minutes. Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not a sleep state and does not usually involve a man with a pocket watch persuading a person to dance like a chicken. Rather, it is a state of heightened, focused attention that everyone can shift into at will. Susan Hepburn, the hypnotherapist who treated Allen and who is credited with the dramatic change in Sophie Dahl’s body shape, agrees that the process is all about creating a positive emotional state. “People imagine hypnosis to be something scary — it’s actually very pleasant. It’s also highly effective, which is why it’s being used to treat a much wider range of issues than before.”

Losing weight

“I believe that whatever you want to eat, you can have it — in moderation,” says Hepburn. “I retrain the mind to create permanent healthy-eating patterns. No more feeling deprived, no more battling in the war zone between good food and bad food.” Before the session, she discusses with a client any emotional issues they have around food to examine how and when unhelpful thinking originated. Typically, she says, it takes three sessions to reprogram eating habits, and afterwards “people feel lighter and no longer afraid of food. They simply don’t want to fall back into old habits”.

Addictions

Alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, whatever your poison, hypnotherapy can help. “Very often, drinking too much or taking drugs is about a person’s lack of social confidence,” says Foster, who runs a highly successful workshop called The Drinkless Mind. “When you’re in a social environment and you feel anxious, your body is flooded with fear, which causes a person to self-sabotage by drinking too much or other destructive behaviour.” Foster’s sessions are designed for “social addicts”, not those who are substance-dependent, with the emphasis on reprogramming the mind to embrace moderation. With alcohol, she encourages the idea of having AFDs — alcohol-free days — every week.

A better sex life

“If there’s a conflict between your conscious and your subconscious mind, the subconscious mind will always win,” says Foster, co-author of The 4 Secrets of Amazing Sex. One area where this factor can play havoc is a person’s sex life. She uses hypnotherapy to overcome what she calls “one-trial learning”, the bad past experience that is causing blocks today. “The unconscious mind is always protecting against vulnerability. If something is highly negatively charged from the past, that often drives future behaviour. This can prevent a woman from being able to trust a partner or develop intimacy, and in men it can manifest as performance anxiety.”

Credit-crunch anxiety

At a time when worries about money are uppermost, hypnotherapy is increasingly being used to help alleviate fear and change spending habits. The hypnotherapist Paul Cullingworth specialises in helping people to curb out-of-control shopping and cope with debt. Typically, he will use visualisation techniques to guide a person through scenarios they might face, such as telling their family about the scale of their debts or talking to their bank manager. “With compulsive shopping, usually people are buying stuff to make them feel better and we need to work on self-esteem issues.”

Infertility

“There can be psychological blocks to fertility, for example a fear of losing your independence and being trapped at home, or the fear of not being able to afford a baby,” says Foster, who has helped several women to identify their fears about getting pregnant, many of whom succeeded in conceiving after the sessions. “There’s no doubt that psychological blocks can affect your chances of getting pregnant,” she says. “Research on animals, for example, shows that when a drought is imminent, they don’t get pregnant.” 

Hypnotherapy is an unregulated industry, so be sure to check a therapist’s credentials at the UK Confederation of Hypnotherapy Organisations (ukcho.co.uk) before signing up. Expect to pay at least £95 per hour, but prices vary. Georgia Foster normally charges £175 an hour, but will be running a group workshop at the Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life event in London on Saturday April 25 (biglifeevents.co.uk); georgiafoster.com, paulcullingworth-hypnotherapy.com. F*** Diets by Susan Hepburn is out now (susanhepburn.com £17.99)

To see the original article go here:- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6054142.ece

Breast cancer surgery patients often suffer severe side-effects such as pain, nausea and fatigue during and after their operations.

UK experts said more research was needed to prove hypnosis worked.

The side-effects from breast cancer surgery can sometimes mean a longer stay in hospital, extra drugs, or even a return to a hospital ward when patients should be recovering at home.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute paper is just the latest to conclude hypnosis can help with operations.

Dr Guy Montgomery, who led the research, recruited 200 women to receive either 15 minutes of hypnosis or just a conversation with a psychologist before their surgery.

The women undergoing hypnosis were given suggestions for relaxation and pleasant mental images, and instructions on how to use hypnosis themselves.

Patients who had received hypnosis needed less anaesthetic than the others, and reported less pain, nausea, fatigue and emotional distress after the operation.

Money saving

The researchers said this was not just better for the patients, but it added up to cash savings for the hospital, as operations took less time on the hypnotised patients, and less was spent on medication and readmission of patients.

Dr David Spiegel, from Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote in the journal: “You have to pay attention to pain for it to hurt, and it is entirely possible to substantially alter pain perception during surgical procedures by inducing hypnotic relaxation, transforming perception in parts of the body, or directing attention elsewhere.

“The key concept is that this psychological procedure actually changes pain experience as much as many analgesic medications and far more than placebos.”

Dr Sarah Cant, from Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “This is an interesting study and anything that can help reduce the side-effects of breast surgery for breast cancer patients is to be welcomed.

“However, further, larger studies are needed before we can come to any firm conclusions about the benefits of hypnosis prior to breast surgery.

“Anyone interested in using hypnosis should discuss this with their breast care team first and ensure that they are using an appropriately trained and experienced hypnotherapist.”

Source: BBC News, Wednesday, 29 August 2007